It’s rare for NFL teams in the salary-cap era to be loaded with defensive talent and still have a top-flight quarterback. That is unless you’re the two teams still standing in the NFC championship game, the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.

That’s what happens when you mine young quarterback gems such as Colin Kaepernick (second round, 2011) and Russell Wilson (third round, 2012). It won’t be long until 49ers and Seahawks will need to break the bank to keep their athletic franchise passers, but in the meantime, they are taking full advantage of their financial situation.

According to Spotrac.com, Kaepernick made $740, 844 in base salary for 2013, costing $1,397,532 toward the $123 million cap. For Wilson, those numbers were a $526, 217 base and $681,085 toward the cap. Their cap hits rank them No. 43 and No. 53 among quarterbacks.

It doesn’t even compare to how much the two AFC championship QBs, Peyton Manning ($17.5 million, No. 3) and Tom Brady ($13.8 million, No. 5) count toward the caps of Denver and New England.

Let’s take the biggest disparity, between Wilson and Manning, or some $16.8 million in cap room. With Wilson in their pocket, the Seahawks could dig deeper in theirs for impact free agents Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett ($8.55 million combined this season), and also handle Avril’s much higher number ($9.25 million next season) with a chance to bring back Bennett.

The Seahawks already had a strong pass rush in 2012, but they could afford the luxury of bolstering it in the offseason. The returns of Avril and Bennett (17 combined sacks so far) have been well worth it in 2013.

They even had room to splurge offensively with the trade for wide receiver Percy Harvin. Avril, Bennett and Harvin together cost about $13.4 million toward the cap in 2013, still not adding up to Manning. Those three players had a significant impact against the Saints in the divisional playoffs, and may continue to be difference-makers in the quest for Super Bowl XLVIII.

The 49ers have the best linebacker corps in the NFL, and it’s hard to maintain that when you’re paying four players. Patrick Willis, NaVorro Bowman, Ahmad Brooks and Aldon Smith are relative cap values this year, but their collective number increases by about $11 million in 2014. Kaepernick sees only a small bump, and with the cap going up to $3.3 million, San Francisco doesn’t need to sweat about the heart of its defense.

Their offensive bonus was the ability to also add wide receiver Anquan Boldin in a trade with Baltimore. Boldin’s price was too rich for the Ravens at a modest $6 million for 2013, and part of the reason was the fact they needed to commit immediate big money to re-signing Super Bowl MVP and pending free-agent quarterback Joe Flacco. It also gave them no chance to re-sign breakout defenders Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe.

The 49ers and Seahawks, have built their consistent contending teams the right way, through the draft. It’s their diligence in acing non first-round picks that put them in this position of using free agency as a formidable roster tweaks. It comes at the right time, when many teams need to invest 10-15 percent of their payroll toward just their quarterbacks.

The current bargains with Kaepernick and Wilson also buys the time to figure out how to lock up star young players beyond quarterback. For the 49ers, Smith and wide receiver Michael Crabtree would be high on the extension priority list. The Seahawks would need to look most at cornerback Richard Sherman and safety Earl Thomas.

Assuming Kaepernick and Wilson are long-term keepers on their way to earning their upper-echelon salaries, it won’t always be this way for San Francisco and Seattle. It does set up both teams to be in the Super Bowl mix for a while, and continues to raise the intensity of the NFL’s top new rivalry.